About

History & Acknowledgments

Voices of Democracy (VOD) originated in conversations among the founding directors of the project: Shawn J. Parry-Giles, Robert Gaines, J. Michael Hogan, Rosa Eberly, and Martin J. Medhurst. In the summer of 2005, the University of Maryland (UM) and the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) were awarded a $195,023 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) in support of the project. With cost-sharing from the host institutions, the NEH Teaching and Learning Resources and Curriculum Development grant provided $294,690 in start-up money for the project.

The VOD’s founding Advisory Board first met at the University of Maryland in the fall of 2005 to refine plans for the site and help launch the project. That board included:

Robert Abzug, University of Texas

Patricia Bizzell, College of the Holy Cross

Denise M. Bostdorff, The College of Wooster

H.W. Brands, University of Texas

Michael Delli Carpini, University of Pennsylvania

James Darsey, Georgia State University

Leroy Dorsey, Texas A&M University

Paul Fessler, Dordt College

Gerard Hauser, University of Colorado

Lisa Hogan, The Pennsylvania State University

Susan Jarratt, University of California—Irvine

Philip Jenkins, The Pennsylvania State University

Cheryl Jorgensen-Earp, Lynchburg College

Shirley Logan, University of Maryland

Charles Morris III, Boston College

Garth Pauley, Calvin College

John Powers, National Archives and Records Administration

Eric King Watts, University of North Carolina

David Zarefsky, Northwestern University

The original plans for VOD were also reviewed by an External Review Board that included: Moya Ball, Trinity University; Thomas Benson, Pennsylvania State University; Celeste Condit, University of Georgia; Fred Greenstein, Princeton University; Stephen Lucas, University of Wisconsin; Bruce Miroff, SUNY—Albany; and Susan Romano, University of New Mexico.

The project directors are indebted to a number of individuals and institutions who subsequently provided material support for VOD, including a long list of graduate and undergraduate students at both PSU and Maryland. At Maryland, support was also provided by the College of Arts and Humanities (CAH), the Office of Undergraduate Studies, and the Office of Information Technology and the Office of Research Advancement and Administration in CAH. At Penn State, we are indebted to the College of the Liberal Arts and its Office of Research and Graduate Studies.

The VOD also acknowledges support from the National Communication Association (NCA), which in 2008 awarded VOD a $5,000 Advancing the Discipline grant.

Finally, the project directors are indebted to their mentors and teachers at Indiana University and the University of Wisconsin, who instilled in them an appreciation for the study of American public address. Voices of Democracy is dedicated to the legacy of public address studies at these great institutions.